


Vengeance

by Halo_Girl_243



Series: Falling Grace [4]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempt at Humor, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 23:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12046524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halo_Girl_243/pseuds/Halo_Girl_243
Summary: Catherine is caught in the middle of the City's Fall and is left abandoned with no idea if any of her friends or if her family made it out alive.





	1. Chapter 1

“Okay, Luke, you ready?” Catherine asked over the comm as she crouched behind a rock, peering over to look at the Falln a few yards ahead of her. 

“I think so,” he replied, “I don’t know Mom, is this really okay? Won’t Dad get mad that we’re out here?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied. “This is our little secret, alright? Now take the shot and I’ll handle the rest of them.”

She ducked back behind the cover and she could hear him take a deep breath as he lined up the shot, and she peeked back around and watched as the bullet her fired went right through the captain’s skull, dropping it to the ground. Immediately she sprung out and handled the rest, the now fourteen year old Luke watching with wide eyes as his mother took down the fallen with absolute ease, and when they were clear she turned to where he was and waved him down, watching with a smile as he rushed down the hill and stood in front of her, just a few inches below her. 

She took off her helmet as her ghost popped out and she reached out and ruffled his hair, “Nice shot, bud, you’re getting better and quicker. You’ll be like your Mama in no time.”

“Thanks Mom,” he replied, a soft smile on his face. 

She then took him in her arm and pulled him close as they started to walk back to the ship, though Luke just kept staring at the little light that his parents always had on them, “Isn’t it weird?”

“What’s weird?”

“Being connected to the ghost all the time.”

She looked to her ghost and back to her son and shrugged, “I don’t know, not really?”

“Not really? What’s that supposed to mean?” her ghost said, floating in front of them. 

“I didn’t mean it like that, chill out,” she sniped back, before looking to her kid. “It’s kind of, comforting, actually. Especially when I’m in too deep, or I’m in trouble, becuase I’m never alone. I always have my little light to guide me. Besides without him and the light I wouldn’t even be here, nor would your father be without his.”

Luke looked to the ghost and then back to her, “What happens if your light goes away?’ he asked with a worried look. 

She sighed and kissed the top of his head, “Don’t worry about me Kiddo, alright? That’s your father’s job. Now how about you and I go sneak a beer with Cayde, okay?”

When they reached the ship Catherine climbed into the pilot’s seat and took off towards the city, and when they got close her ghost tried to raio in, only for them to receive static. Making Catherine’s eyes narrow when her ghost tried to contact Shaxx directly only to receive static again. She then reached up to hit the speaker for the cargo bay Luke was in, “Buckle up, Luke,” she said in a serious tone.

She then accelerated towards the city, and her eyes went wide in horror when she saw the ships descending down upon the city. 

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“The city’s under attack,” she replied. 

“What?”

She went to reply, but the ship rocked as a rocket hit their left engine, she growled and activated the automatic guns that fired at the ship behind them before she looked to her ghost, “Get Zavalla on the line, and find us a place to bail, now!”

Her ghost then turned, while Catherine evaded the ship behind her, and when he turned to look back at her she glanced towards him. 

“I can't get a signal, long range Comms are down, even from here, and I found you a place to bail.”

“Take the reigns,” she ordered before pressing the button that lowered her seat. She moved to her locker a bit unsteady as her ghost controlled the ship and ket them from getting a hit. She reached her arms locker and pulled her her pistols, automatic rifle and sniper rifle, attaching them to her armor before slipping her helmet on and putting her hood on, she then turned to Luke and pulled him out fo the seat before moving to the cargo doors, and opened them holding onto her son tightly. 

“Be ready to bail in five...four...three...two…”

She then jumped her ghost evaporating into her armo as she did and let out a grunt as they hit the metal platform. She got up with a groan and then looked to Luke, “You alright?”

“I think so. What’s going on? Who’s attacking us?” he asked in an alarmed manner. 

“I don’t know,” she replied in a calm tone and pulled out her rifle, “but what I need you to do is to stay behind me and do everything I say, alright?”

She then handed him a pistol and he looked up to her with surprise. 

“If it ain’t a guardian shoot it, got it?”

She then walked forward and as they made their way through the halls, Luke could feel his heart pick up its pace with every step as a bad feeling continued to stir in his gut as his arms trembled, he then looked to his mother, who seemed calm and focused as she turned the halls and held her rifle up, communicating with the Commander and Cayde, well at least that’s what he could tell from the half conversation he was allowed to hear. 

“Shaxx, what’s your position?”

“Dad?” Luke asked. 

He was ignored by his mother as she stopped and talk to her husband, “Yes, I have Luke...Obviously I’m going to bring him to you first...Yeah, we’ll be careful, you be careful too.”

She then turned back to Luke and gestured, “Come on, your father’s locked down with a few civilians, I’m dropping you off there.”

Luke nodded and followed behind his mother, waiting for her confirmation to move out from behind cover as she fought the cabal, and when they made it to Shaxx, Luke watched as his father embraced his mother and she did as well, both of them taking a deep breath before they pulled away, and shaxx turned to his son, reaching out to put a hand on his cheek, visibly relaxing slightly that his family was safe. 

Though as Catherine turned away Luke walked forward a concerned look on his face, “Mom!”

She turned and looked at him. 

“Please, be careful,” he said. 

She smile dunder her helmet, “Like I said Luke, it's your Dad’s job to worry, just keep these people safe and don’t do anything your Dad wouldn’t do, okay? I love you, both of you.”

“We love you too,” they both replied. 

“Give them hell, Hive Bane.”

“You too, Crucible Master.”

Catherine then rushed off, and Shaxx looked to his son, “Don’t worry about your mother, she’s handled worst than the Cabal. Did I tell you that-”

“Yes, how you killed a god, jesus Dad you tell that story every morning.”

He chuckled, “It’s a good story, but it should teach you a lesson about your mother, if a god couldn’t kill her, than what chance does a mortal stand?”


	2. Chapter 2

 

“Amanda, get Catherine on that ship now!” Zavalla boomed over the comm. 

“On it!” Amanda replied as she maneuvered through the air field, and when they reached the ship Catherine held onto her seat tightly as she used her expert piloting to get them around the shields. 

“This is your stop Cat! Give em hell!”

Catherine jumped out fo the ship and landed with a roll before immediately exploding towards her target, pure focus across her features. This motherfucker was not bringing this city down, and she was going to blow him the fuck up to prove it. She had worked too hard, had literally given up a leg to keep these fucking walls standing and she wasn’t about to let some ugly asshat ruin her perfect record.

“The core’s just ahead, Cat. Take out the turbines below, and don’t touch the rotating pylons, those’ll kill you.”

“Noted,” she replied. 

As soon as the turbines were down she turned and ran, taking out more cabal along the way as the alarms blared, her heart thumping away in her chest from both the adrenaline and the amount of physical movement she had to do to keep away from the bullets in the hallways. 

“Amanda, come in, the turbines are down, we need a lift,” her ghost chimed as she rushed through the hallways. 

Catherine’s eyes narrowed when they only received static, and she knew that meant that the guardians down below were losing, but she didn’t want to believe it. Zavala, Ikora, Cayde, they would never let the city fall, especially like this.

“Amanda, come in!”

Still only static. 

“Anyone, come in! We need extraction!”

They made it out to the deck and ran out into the middle of it, and Catherine came to a stop when she saw the device around the traveller, and the absolute destruction going on down below. 

“How do we come back from this?” her ghost asked in a defeated tone. 

“You don’t.”

They both turned sharply, Catherine's eyes narrowing as she lifted her rifle towards the Cabal wearing the white armor, knowing instantly that he was the fucker in charge of all of this shit. 

“Welcome to a world without light.”

She turned towards the traveller and saw the field be put up around it, and instantly she felt a familiar nasution enter her body as she fell to her knees. 

“C-Cat, the light.”

Both her and her ghost knew what this was, their light had been taken away. They had felt this before, when they had been trapped under miles of rubble in Hellmouth. She knew this weakness. This helplessness. And the fear. This was the deprivation of light. 

She reached out for her ghost as she shook on all fours, determined to keep him safe as the cabal approached her. She turned her head to look up with him only to be met with a powerful kick to the gut, that surely would’ve crushed her ribs if not for her armor, letting out a grunt of pain as she collided with the metal platform again. 

She held her ghost to her chest tightly, as she sat up on her legs, only to her kicked again, sliding to the edge, and losing grip of her little light. 

“No,” she said weakly as she reached for him watching in horror as he fell to the ground.  

She heard the cbla approaching and forced herself to face him, his words not registering in her floating mind before he simply nudged her off the platform, sending her hurtling towards the ground, and when she crashed into the Earth she blacked out. 

~

“Dad!” Luke called, rushing to his father who had suddenly fallen to the ground. “Are you okay?”

“The light...it's gone,” he replied in a weak tone, and tried to shake off the weak feeling. 

After a few moments, he stood and looked to his son, and he saw the fear across his son’s features, “If your light’s gone then...Mom’s...her’s is gone too, and she’s out there...she’s...she’s…”

He watched as Luke turned and took off, and he growled, “Luke! Don’t!”

He came to a screeching halt, “But Mom she’s-”

“I know that!” his father boomed and took off his helmet so his son could see just how scare she was too. “I’m terrified for Catherine too, but running out there defenseless and weak won't help her! Now get your ass in the ship!”

Luke looked down the hall and back to his father, taking a deep breath, before he moved to help his weakened father climb into the ship, and as they bored Shaxx took a deep breath and prayed that his wife was still alive. That she was still fighting and still breathing, and that she would make it back to them. 

~

“Cat!” her ghost said to her weakly as he healed her. “G-G-Get up!”

Her eyes floated open under her helmet and she sat up slowly, and looked around slowly, a numb feeling settling inside her as the city she had shed blood to protect was obliterated. She could here the tanks and only small pockets of gunfire that was still going on, but other than that the city was dead. The city she loved was dead. Deprived of its light.

“We need to leave,” her ghost told her. “The evacuation ships have already left. We’re on our own.”

“Shaxx,” she said looking to him. “Where’s Shaxx?”

“I don’t know, but we need to go, alright? If we get caught they’ll kill you and I can't bring you back anymore. Not without the light. We need to leave the city.”

She nodded and got up, her ghost evaporating into her armor like always as she set off towards the navpoint to run, to try and survive in a world, in a galaxy, and in a universe without light, and all she could think about as she moved was her family and friends. Her mind racing with questions of their survival. Were they alive? Were they safe? Where were they? Did they know she was alive?

And when they made it outside the wall, she looked up to the sky, and only counted cabal ships that flew into the destroyed city, and she felt tears from in her eyes as the fear of everyone she knew being dead, especially at the loss of her husband and son, bringing a hand to her face as she started to break down. 

Everything had been fine this morning when she had given her husband a soft kiss and whispered her words of love to him before he left to go manage the crucible. Everything had been fine when Cayde had helped her smuggle her son into the docks and onto her ship. Everything had been fine when she had gone out to hunt fallen with Luke. Now nothing was fine. Nothing. 

_ Nothing. _

~

Shaxx looked down to the ring on his finger, tears in his eyes. 

Zavala had just confirmed his fears. 

His wife was dead. 

Catherine was dead. 

Her put a hand over his face as the tears flowed over his cheeks, biting his lip to contain the sobs. As his worst nightmare continued to unfold in front of him, his mind racing about how she had died. Wondering if she had died scrambling like a bug under a boot, afraid and alone, or if she had died with a gun to the back of her head, executed with absolutely no hope of salvation. Had she died wondering where he was? Did she curse him for abandoning her, or was she proud that he stayed with their son?

“Dad?”

Shaxx looked up and he realized that he still had to break the news to his son. Tell his child that his mother was dead. 

“What’s wrong? Is Mom okay?”

His throat went absolutely dry, as he looked into his child’s eyes. He wanted to lie, oh how he wanted to lie, but he couldn't do it. His son deserved the truth. As the words left his mouth he saw the look of shock cross his son’s features as his green eyes went wide. 

“N-No,” he said. “She’s not...She..can’t be…”

“I’m sorry, Luke.”

The boy went silent for a few moment, before he clenched his fists, and looked up to his father, tears flowing down his cheeks, a pain like never before clenching in his chest. She couldn’t be dead. She wouldn't just die. His mother was one of the two strongest people in his world. Having to go out and fight, only to come home with a smile on her face. 

She had taught him how to throw a knife, how to shoot a sniper rifle, how to track, how to hack into his father's crucible audio and make vintage porn play over the radios, and how to blame things on Cayde. And more importantly she was the one who taught him to be brave. She had taught him the meaning of sacrifice, and now the meaning of loss. 

He then felt strong arms wrap around him, and he looked up to his father who was his anchor in this world, who had been there for him, to teach him how to stand up for what he believed and to be confident and restrained. Now his father was all he had left, and as he wrapped his arms around his father he prayed that he wouldn’t have to lose him too. 


	3. Chapter 3

“I spy, something...green.”

“Grass.”

“Good job,” she replied sarcastically. 

Her ghost turned towards her and seemed to glare, “Y-Y-You’re the one who wanted to play this game.”

“It’s better than talking about the quantum-theory behind how the taken travel inter-dimensions.”

“W-W-Well I find the matter extremely interesting.”

She sighed and look back to the sky, watching as the sun floated by in another day. Another damn day just walking and fighting the cabal the old fashioned way, which was actually kind of terrifying. Those fuckers seemed bigger and tougher when she didn’t have her powers. Everything certainly took longer that was for damn sure. 

Not only that, but her husband and her son hadn’t left her mind for a moment. She had been too weak to protect them, too stupid, too arrogant. She thought it wouldn't be a problem. She had defeated gods, as in plural gods, but this...this was just a mortal like her. Not some supposed immortal, just a cabal who wore fancy armor, so why the fuck had she lost? Her loss of light was an excuse, she should’ve killed him the moment she laid eyes on him, pulled the trigger without a fucking thought, but she was too slow, and she hated herself for it and no doubt everyone hated her for her mistake.

If they were even alive, that is. 

“Hey,” her ghost chimed next to her. “It’s not your fault, Cat. You have to know that. We weren’t pre-prepared for a full frontal assault like th-that.”

“We should’ve been, but we got cocky. After we killed Oryx, and the Iron Banner took out that one Fallen Kell, we thought we were in the clear, but that was a lie. We weren’t safe, the fear that we had before kept us alive, and we forgot that fear and it killed us in the end.”

“We’re not dead yet,” he replied. 

“Sure, but we sure got the shit kicked out of us.”

“Can’t be anything worse than losing a leg,” he replied. 

She blinked at him for a few seconds, “Yeah, it is.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m a bit of an expert on the matter.”

He snickered, though when he suddenly glitched and fell and few feet, Catherine reached out a caught him quickly, and held him in her hands a concerned look in her eyes. The days that had past, he had been glitching like this. She knew he needed the light, and that he wouldn't last more than a few months like this, probably even shorter since he was damaged severely from the fall he had taken. She then put him in the space that was between her hood and helmet as it started to rain, “Just get some rest, alright? Can’t afford to lose you too little buddy.”

She looked to the path ahead and took a deep breath as she continued to walk forward, reminding herself again that she needed to keep moving, and that giving up wouldn’t just cost her, her own life, but her ghost’s as well, and that was unacceptable to her. He had pulled her from the shit and the mud so many times, the least she could do was pull him out of the shit once. 

“Hang on, bud,” she whispered. 

Days past by and after walking farther than she ever had in memory she found herself in a valley. Climbing down the rocks carefully, that is until she came to a rather wide jump. With her boosters it wouldn't of been a problem, but she didn’t have them anymore, so she just hoped that her trusty bionic leg would be enough for it. 

She took a few steps back, taking a deep breath before exploding forward and leaping across the gap,  she managed to get across the jump, but the rock was slippery and she fell back and off the rock and plummeted twenty feet before landing with a pained cry onto a rock, and then slipping down through the mud until she reached the bottom of the hill. A hand immediately went to her ribs as she sat up and looked up for her ghost who was lying on the ground a few yards from her, and he blinked back onto life and slowly floated up and towards her. 

“Are you al-al-alright?” he asked her. 

“My ribs,” she replied. “I think their broken.”

He floated over and healed her as the rain started to let up, and Catherine managed to push herself up out of the mud, though when she heard footsteps approaching she reached for the pistol on her hip and sat up, pointing her weapon, making the woman in front of her put her hands up. 

“Easy, there guardian.”

She felt a wave of relief wash over her and she lowered her pistol, glad to see another person for the first time since the fall of the city. The woman then walked over and tried to help her up, but when Catherine tried to push off of her bionic leg, and woman heard the grinding of the gears in her leg, before moving to Catherine's left side and wrapping her left arm around her shoulder, “Come on, let’s get you fixed up guardian.”

The woman helped Catherine to a ship and when they got inside Catherine looked up to her, “What’s your name?”

“Hawthorne,” she answered as she closed the door before moving to the cockpit. 

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere we can get you fixed you up,” she answered. “Just get some rest Guardian.”

~

When Catherine woke up she found herself in a makeshift hammock, and rose out of it slowly, looking around and spotting Hawthorne sitting off in a chair. She moved to put her feet to the floor and looked down to her bionic leg and saw that it was all patched up and repaired, and then peeked to her side, spotting her armor that had been cleaned, polished and repaired. 

Catherine then looked back to Hawthorne, “Thank you,” she said in a soft voice. 

Hawthorne shrugged, “Least I could do for the famous hunter who kicks gods in the teeth.”

“You know who I am?”

“Vaguely, I just recognized the armor from the vids.”

It fell quiet for a moment, before Hawthorne sighed, “How bad was it?” she asked. 

Catherine looked down to the wooden floor, “Not only did we lose the city, but we lost our connection to the traveler and our light...and my family.”

“Family? I didn’t know Guardians had...families.”

The blonde then reached around her neck to her locket and clicked it open, a hologram of her, Shaxx and Luke on their son’s fourteenth birthday popping up. She smiled sadly to it, and Hawthorne's brows furrowed before looking back to the hunter. 

“The boy, his name’s Luke,” she replied. “We adopted him when he was only four years old. His parents had died in a plague that had swept through a city, and we found him when he showed up at the tower dressed in a makeshift outfit like my husband’s.”

She turned a dial on the locket and the picture switched to one of Luke while in his little Shaxx costume, smiling and holding his arms up. Making Tears come to Catherine’s eyes as she switched the picture again and let out a shaky breath when it was the one of her and Shaxx on their make-shift wedding day. They were both wearing their armor, though Cayde had fashioned a small veil for her, and he stood at her side as she looked into her husband’s who looked handsome as ever as he stared back into her own, Zavala at his side while Luke looked up at his parents with a cute gag. 

The blonde then put her locket away and stood, wiping her tears, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t...I shouldn’t burden you with this.”

She then crouched down next to her armor and started to strap it on over her undersuit, before standing and swinging her cloak over her shoulders just as her ghost flew in. 

“Cat, I think I fou-fou-found a way to get our light back.”

The blonde turned and put her helmet on, flipping on her hood, “Hit me.”

“There’s a shard of the traveller not too far from here, there might be some light left in it,” he explained. “If we...we could get there and extract it...we might have a chance.”

Catherine looked to her ghost and nodded, “Alright then it’s a plan.”

“What plan? You’ll get killed,” Hawthorne said standing up. “I saved you and fixed your stupid leg and armor so you could help us, not so you could ge get yourself killed. You’re staying here.”

“No, I’m not,” Catherine replied and walked away. “I’ll be back in a few hours, don’t wait up.”

“How can you be so confident without your light, you guardians are basically big babies in cloaks when your light is gone!”

“I don’t need light to put a bitch down.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun little chapter with Luke and Cayde, when Cayde decides to steal Luke.

“Hey, kid.”

Luke turned and saw Cayde standing there, his head poking out from the doorway, one of his hands beckoning the young boy towards him. The boy looked up and down the hall before raising a hand and moving slowly over to the exo. 

“What is it?”

The exo then looked around as well with suspicious eyes before looking to the teenager in the eyes, “How good of a shot are you? Are you like your mom?”

The boy rubbed the back of his neck, “Uh, I don’t know, but I can hit a target.”

The exo blinked a few times before shrugging, and reaching for the boy’s wrist clearly and tugging the human with him, making Luke yelp in surprise, “That’ll have to work, now come with me. We’re leaving this suicide mission.”

“But what about my dad?”

Cayde turned and looked at him, narrowing his eyes, “Are we going to have a problem here little dude, becuase honestly I’m only bringing you becuase Cat would want you to have a proper hunter education.”

“But we’re not allowed to-”

“UGH! Just like your dad!” the exo said and put a hand over his eyes before the other one settled on the boy’s shoulder. “Look kid, be more like your mom. She didn’t follow the rules, neither did I, and hey we’re...well I’m here, but Cat died following the rules alright? So just stick with me and we’ll avenge your mom okay?”

“You’re going after Ghal?”

“Not quite, we’re stopping at Nessus along the way okay, I need to get my hands on one of them Vex Teleporters, now come on, we need to slip out while Zavala’s doing dumb shit and won’t notice okay?”

The vanguard dragged the boy down the hall and out to a ship, putting him in the co-pilot’s seat and making a quick word to buckle up before he took off, and once the auto-pilot took over the exo turned to the human boy holding up three fingers on his left hand, “Alright, three rules that only apply to you, Munchkin, alright? Rule One, stay behind me. Rule Two, Do everything I tell you to. Rule Three, Do everything I tell you to.”

“That's only two rules.”

Cayde rolled his eyes, “Don’t you kids learn anything in school, Repetition in dialogue and literature is for emphasis.”

“Or a glitch in an grumpy-old ass Exo.”

“Hey, this grumpy-old ass Exo can drop your ass off in the sun if he wanted to, besides you’re the one who came along.”

“No I didn't! You kidnapped me!”

“I did no-Okay, I kind of did, but not the point. I’m doing this for Catty, alright? And if Shaxx doesn’t like it he can come take you back himself, but that douche knows that you belong with me. You’ve got hunter blood...well not really since you’re adopted.”

Luke’s face fell, “I’m adopted?”

“Agh! Fuck, shit...uh, yeah you are, it's hard for guardians to have their own children, and don't ask me where babies come from, but don’t worry, your mother loves you. Besides if you were your father’s kid you’d be a couple shades darker there snowflake.”

Luke looked the exo up and down and folded his arms, “Remind me why Mom always used to hang out with you?”

“Becuase I’m fun.”

“You are? When?”

Cayde’s eyes narrowed, “Look you little shit, just watch I’m going to be your awesome father-figure by the end of the month, like Mr. Miagi.”

“I already have a dad.”

“Just shut up kid, go read a book or something and educate yourself.”


	5. Chapter 5

Catherine let out a snarl as she drove her knife into the skull of the final fallen, pulling the knife from its eye before kicking it to the ground. She took a few moment to catch her breath and flick the blood from her knife before placing it back in it's sheathe on her chest plate. She then walked over to the shard, her ghost appearing in her hand. 

She gave him a concerned look under her armor, “Do what you can, little buddy,” she said and lifted him up. “And be quick about it, don't know how much longer we’ll be clear.”

She watched as he floated up to the crack in the shard and scanned and when he suddenly opened up and turned to look at her, she felt the true light of hope flood into her again, “Hold onto your helmet, Cat.”

Her ghost then opened up and she watched as he extracted the light before beaming into her, and she felt an energy like never before surge through her and when it was over she stood strong, the euphoric feeling of having her light back surging through her. With her power returned she felt invincible once again, and as more Fallen started to flood into the area she turned a smirk across her features as she activated her new ability, the lightning staff filling her hands, as the familiar energy snapped and crackled around her. 

“Kick their ass.”

She then exploded forward and vaporized every Fallen that dared approach, successfully driving them off as her ability faded away. 

Her ghost then came back out of her armor and she looked down to him, “We’re back little buddy.”

“Back in Black.”

“Hell yeah, now let’s go kill some Cabal.”

“Hold on, Cat.”

“What? Why?”

“Becuase there’s no way if  _ hell _ you’re going to be able to take on the entire Red Legion. We need backup and at least some semblance of a plan. If we rush back in there we  _ will _ die.”

Cat sneered before taking a deep breath, “Fine, what do we do now?”

“We should help Hawthorne and the refugees out, maybe see if we can send a communication network up and send an encrypted beacon out to any ghosts that might still be alive.”

“You still think there’s others out there.”

“There has to be, no way ghaul killed every guardian, besides we’ve been without long range communication this entire time, especially since the satellites in the atmosphere were destroyed.”

“Then how the hell do you plan to send out a beacon.”

“There are several ways we could fix that, we could-”

“No, no, don’t start,” Cat replied putting her hand up. “There’ll be no stopping you for hours. Let’s just get back, alright?”

Her ghost blinked at her, before making a nodding motion and dissipating back into her armor. 

~

“Where the hell is Luke!?” Shaxx boomed walking around the makeshift base, a menacing look on his face as his large from lumbered around scanning each and every blonde head he came across. 

“Shaxx, what’s going on?” Sloane asked when she saw the Lord’s slightly panicked face. 

“I can’t find Luke,” he replied. 

“Luke?”

“My son, he’s not answering his comm and I can’t find him.”

He caught Holiday shifting in the corner of the room and he turned towards her, his eyes narrowed, “Where’s my son?”

She shifted under his gaze, her palms getting sweaty real quick as the crucible master and her old friend stared her down with primal rage in his eyes. She was debating whether she was more scared to stay silent or to confess the truth, but eventually it all slipped out, “Cayde took him!”

“What!?” Shaxx snarled, his voice almost shaking the metal floor and walls. “Where!?”

“Nessus!”

“Oh, that scrawny little AGH! I’ll tear him apart if Luke gets hurt!”

“Stand down Shaxx!” Sloane suddenly ordered her eyes narrowed. 

He turned, “He took my son.”

“I don’t care, the last thing we need is for you to go on a rampage. We’ll handle it when we can, but for now you’re just going to have to trust Cayde.”

He growled as his fists clenched, his entire body tensing as he looked to his fellow titan in front of him, making everyone turn as the tension mounted in the room, that is until Shaxx’s ghost floated up. 

“Shaxx, calm down. This isn’t what Catherine would want.”

The Lord looked to his ghost, not wanting to believe it, but knowing that his little light was correct. Catherine trusted Cayde, for some abstract reason that he couldn't even comprehend even after all of these years, but if his deceased wife trusted the exo then he would too for now. That is until he could go and recover his son, and beat the living shit out of his mechanical ass and lecture his son for a good two hours about running off and behaving like his reckless and beautiful mother. 

~

“Uh, do you think you should be touching that?” Luke asked as he watched Cayde fiddle with the ex teleportation device. 

“Shut up, I know what I’m doing.”

“Uh-huh, it totally didn't just shock you.”

Cayde turned and glared at the younger boy, “Do you trust me or not.”

“No.”

“Fuck you too.”

The exo turned and got back to work and Luke just sighed and continued to watch the door, the butt of his rifle in his shoulder as he kept a sharp eye out. Remembering everything that his mother and father had taught him about the Vex. 

_ “Not remember Luke,” she had told him. “Not the head. The shiny white gem, alright? They’re complete dicks if you shoot their head off.” _

He smiled softly at the memory of his mother, though his smile fell quickly when he remembered that she was gone. 

“Are you alright, Luke? Your vitals have dropped slightly?”

“I’m fine, Failsafe. Just...Just missing my mom.”

“You mean your creator? Who was she?”

“She was a guardian, a hunter. A better one than Cayde is.”

“I heard that short stack!”

“Well, she already sounds incredible!” Failsafe chimed before her tone switched. “You know...for a dead person…”

It was quiet for a few moments, before Luke heard a large mechanical noise and then a zap behind him, and when he turned his eyes went wide when he saw the Exo caught in some sort of field. Luke sighed, absolutely unamused, “Ok, what the-”

He didn't have time to react as Vex suddenly teleported into the room. 

“Run!” Cayde immediately ordered as they began to fire at Luke. “Get back to the ship!”

The exo watched as Luke barely scrambled away and bolted out of the base, high tailing it out of there using his boosters that Cayde had given him. His adrenaline and terror giving him increased senses as his heart pumped in his ears and nearly stopped everytime a shot was fired near him. 

“If you’d keep heading forward, and then take a left you will be on your way to my core,” he heard failsafe chime in his ear. “There I will be unable to protect you! Unlike the Cayde-6!”

Luke continued to follow her directions, and she led him out fo the base, but even then he didn't have time to stop or relax since there was fallen and vex crawling all over the planet and all throughout the path to Failsafe’s core.

He looked around for some sort of solution and when he spotted cayde’s sparrow he darted for it, turned it on and turned it around, taking off to the core at full speed, and when he reached the core he hightailed it inside and immediately the giant metal doors closed, and a barrier was put up behind it as well. 

“I’m so happy you made it!” Failsafe chimed. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a visitor!”

“It should’ve been longer.”


	6. Chapter 6

Catherine attached as Hawthorne hooked up the final component of the long range communication system, and her eyes went wide as soon as the signal came through.

_ “Guardians...the City is lost...if there is any Light left in the system, we rally on Titan. Be brave.” _

“Zavalla,” she whispered tears coming to her eyes.

Her ghost lit up as well and looked to her, “If he’s alive than Shaxx and Luke might still be alive! We have to go!”

Catherine looked to the ground as a tear flowed down her cheek. They could be alive, it was a small chance but there was a chance. Her husband, her son, she could be reunited with them, and she’d be damned if she weren't going to take the opportunity to be reunited with her family once again. She turned away quickly, but Hawthorne's protest cut clear through. 

“You’re _ not _ leaving.”

Catherine turned, and opened her mouth to protest, but the other woman cut her off. 

“We have more and more refugees coming in, with the fallen to our right and the Red Legion to the left, we need you here.”

“My family may be alive Hawthorne, besides if the guardians have gathered on Titan and we bring them here we can fight off both the Red Legion and the fallen. I’m going end of discussion.”

Hawthorne's face soured, “Fine, you know where I’ll be when you guardians decide to actually help someone for once.”

The woman then walked past Catherine, brushing her shoulder against the blonde’s before continuing on her way. The hunter then turned to her ghost, “Come on, we need to get to Titan.”

~

When they landed Catherine looked around skeptically while the ship took off back to the upper atmosphere, the base she had heard about from Zavala a few times was still in the water, no power and no sight of anyone. Her chest clenched as she searched for any sort of a welcoming party, but when there was nothing she looked to her ghost. 

“Open a hailing frequency, open channel, local only.” 

Her ghost did and she took a deep breath, “This is Hunter Catherine, I’ve just arrived on Planet Titan, over.”

Her eyes narrowed when she only received static.

“I repeat, is anyone here, over?”

Her eyes started to water when no one replied, and she felt her hope start to slowly slip away, but when received a ping of another signal her eyes went wide as soon as the voice hit her ears. 

“Catherine! Is that seriously you?”

The tears rolled down her cheeks, “Sh-Shaxx?”

An unsteady breath was heard from the otherside, “Jesus christ Cat, why do you always do this?”

She chuckled softly and sniffled, “Sorry, Love.”

He chuckled as well, and put a hand a hand over his eyes as he thanked the gods once again that his wife hadn't been taken from him, but then he heard the Hive scream on the other side of the line and his heart dropped right into his stomach, “Cat! Get out of there! Now!”

“Why? It's just the hive,” she replied, getting her rifle off of her back. 

“We have our light back, Shaxx,” her ghost cut in. “We can handle the Hive, we can even get the base back up and operating if need be.”

“That would be best guardian.”

Shaxx turned and catherine perked up when Zavala’s voice cut through, and Shaxx nodded to him and opened up to allow the commander to use the panel to lead Catherine through her mission, though as he did he felt sick to his stomach when he realized that he was going to have to explain to his wife that Cayde had kidnapped their child and took him to the Vex covered planet of Nessus. 

“Oh, oh shit.”

~

Catherine took off her helmet as she walked through the corridors of the secure base, the guardians around her standing up and nodding to her while she walked to where Zavala, Shaxx and Sloane were, and as soon as she spotted her husband tears came to her eyes and she rushed forward, dropping her helmet and rushing towards him to jump onto his strong arms, wrapping her arms around his neck to cling onto him tightly as he held her back just as tight. 

“You’re a pain in the ass, wife,” he muttered to her. 

She chuckled, “And you think you’re any better, husband?”

They then pulled away a bit and Catherine went on her tiptoes to connect their lips for a long and soft kiss and when they pulled away again she began to look around, “Where’s Luke? He’s here right?”

Shaxx tensed up immediately, “Uh, well...to at the moment.”

She looked back to him, her eyes sharp, “What the hell does that mean?” she asked, her voice already dripping with venom.

“Cayde took him to Nessus.”

“WHAT!?” she and her ghost boomed at the same time as the terrifying fire burned in her purple eyes. “How could you let that happen!”

“He stole him behind my back!”

“Cayde stole my son!” she snarled, she then put her hands in front of her and celenched them tightly. “Oh, I’ll kill that motherfucking piece of scrap! Then I reassemble him, kill him again and smelt him down for spare parts! Motherfucker!”

She then put her helmet back on and she then turned back to him, “And don’t think you’re off the hook either! Crucible Bitch!”

Shaxx put his hands up in surrender. 

“Always bitching at me for being reckless, and yet he was never kidnapped under my watch! Agh! Dumb motherfucker!”

Shaxx was frozen as she stormed off, her fists sparking with her motherly rage, and his ghost then came back out from behind him. 

“You fucked up.”

“I did...I did.”


End file.
